be
tabooed. "If we present the circus again later on we don't want to run
the risk of giving any one the slightest chance to grow tired of seeing
the animals," had been her wise edict.

That night a mixed company of gay and gallant folks danced to the music
of the living-room piano at Morton House. Those receiving invitations
had immediately planned their costumes and by eight o'clock that
evening, resplendent in their own and borrowed finery, were on their way
to the ball. At ten o'clock there had been a brief intermission, when
cakes and ices were served. This had been an unlooked-for courtesy on
the part of Arline, who had plunged recklessly into her month's
allowance for the purchase of the little spread. The ball had lasted
until half-past eleven o'clock, and the participants, after singing to
Arline and rendering her a noisy vote of thanks, had gone home tired and
happy.

Saturday had been devoted to the "odds and ends" of vacation. The
majority of the girls, having stayed in Overton, paid long-deferred
calls, gave luncheons or dinners at Vinton's or Martell's, or, the day
being unusually clear, went for long walks. Guest House was the
destination of a party of girls of whom Grace made one, and which also
included Miriam, Elfreda, Laura Atkins, Violet Darby and half a dozen
other young women who had elected the five-mile walk, supper, and a
return by moonlight. Arline, Anne and Ruth had at the last moment
decided to attend an illustrated lecture on Paris, to be held in the
Overton Theatre that afternoon, with the gleeful prospect of cooking
their supper at Ruth's that evening, an occasion invariably attended
with at least one laughable mishap, as neither Arline's nor Anne's
knowledge of cooking extended beyond the art of boiling water.

On the way back from Guest House the pedestrians had stopped at Vinton's
for a rest and ices. As they trooped in the door, they passed Kathleen
West, accompanied by Alberta Wicks, Mary Hampton, and a freshman whom
Grace had frequently noticed in company with the newspaper girl. Several
of the girls with her bowed to the passing trio, but Grace fancied there
was a lack of cordiality in their salutations. She also imagined she
noticed a fleeting gleam of malice in Alberta Wicks's face as the senior
passed their table. Inwardly censuring herself for allowing any such
impression to creep into her mind, Grace dismissed it with an impatient
little shake of the head.

The walking par